Watercraft



Dec. 24, 1957 F. L. CHAFFEE I 2,817,101

WATERCRAFT Filed Nov. 15, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. FLOYD L.GHAFFEE fax $1214 "4 m .qrromvrs United States Patent WATERCRAFT FloydL. Chalice, SanDiego, Calif.

App'lication'November 15, 1954, Serial'No. 468,755

12 Claims. (Cl. 9-18) The present invention relates to watercraft "ofthe type including an elongated floating structure provided with sk imeans therebelow. Such watercraft floats while stationary or whilemoving through the water at relatively low speeds; upon increase ofspeed, the floating structure rises in the water, and, when the craftreaches a prede- 'termined speed, it will'plane upon the ski means.

In practicing the present invention, the ski means "includes "a frontski W'hichmaybe turned about a verticallyextending axis forguiding thedirection of movement of the craft. I utilize only one ski "in "therear, which ski is aligned with the elongated floating body, and alignedwith the front sk'i when the 'latteris "in craft forward movingposition. The floating structure or boat carries the motor, and thepropelling means, which is driven by the motor, is interposed betweenthe front and rear skis and disposed below the skis.

Further objects and advantages will be apparent from the followingdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein apreferred embodiment of the invention .is illustrated.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the watercraft;

:Eig. 2 is aatop plan view of .the craft;

. Eig. 3 is a side view of the craft;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on line 44 .of Fig. B s- Fig. 5 is afragmentary top plan view of the rear portion of the front rs'ki.R-efer-ring more in detail to the drawings, the watercraft 20 includes afloating structure or boat 21, the prow 22 of which is hollow forreceiving what is known in the art as an outboard motor, the lowerportion only of which is shown, including the drive shaft casing 24, therudder section 25, and propeller 26. The top of the motor is enclosed bya cover 27 formed of suitable material such as a transparent plastic.The cover is provided with a flanged rim 28 suitably secured to the topof the prow 22. Openings 29 may be formed in the dome or cover 27 forthe ingress and egress of cooling air for the motor.

The top 30 of the boat carries a seat 31 for the driver. The bottomportion 32 of the boat flares outwardly on opposite sides of the boat asat 33 to provide an enlarged planing surface on the bottom of the boat;this planing surface extends across the entire bottom of the boat. Theupper surface of the forward part of the flares or ledges 33 form thefoot rest for the driver whose knees straddle the prow 22.

In the embodiment, the rear ski 35 is fixed to the rear end of the boatand is preferably rigidly connected to the underside of the boat by aweb 36. This web depends from midway of the starboard and port sides ofthe floating structure 21. The front 37 of ski 35 bows upwardly, and therear 38 bows downwardly but on a relatively larger radius than the bowof the front. The extreme rear end of ski 35 carries a keel 39.

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The front ski 40 is mounted for movement about a. vertically-extendingaxis, which axis intersects the structure 21 midway of the starboard andport sides of said structure. The front 41 of ski 40 is also bowedupwardly. The extreme front end 43 of the prow 22 carries avertically-extending bushing 44 for an axle 45. A frame 46 is secured tothis axle and comprises upper and lower plates 47 and 48; these platesare secured to the upper and lower ends of the axle 45.

Front tubes or rods 50 and rear tubes or rods 51 extend through and aresuitably secured to the lower plate 48. The lower ends of one of thepairs of front and rear rods are joined and likewise the lower ends ofthe other pair of 'rods are 'joined. These joined rods carryhorizontally extending pins or axles 53. When the front ski islongitudinally aligned with the rear ski and the boat, the axes of theseaxles 53 are at right angles to the elongated rear ski and the boat. Theupper ends of rods 50 are su'itablysecured to the upper plate 47;likewise rear rods are also secured to plate 47 but extend through theplate and are connected with a bar 54 which forms a handle bar. Thus thefront ski can be swung clockwise or counterclockwise about the axis ofaxle 45 by the handle bar 54 for steering the craft in a manner similarto the steering of a bicycle or motorcycle. Cables 56 .and 57 areconnected to the rotatable handles 58 and 59 for controlling thethrottle valve of the carburetor and for advancing and retarding thesparking of the spark plugs.

The pins 53, at the lower end of the frame 46, are pivotally connectedwith the upper ends of vertically-extending legs 61 of a 'U-shaped frame62; the yoke 63 of this frame is suitably attached to the top :side .offront ski '40. Coil springs 65 are connected between frame 62 and therods '51. When the craft is in ski-gliding or planing operation, springs65 are in a neutral position, i. e,, they are not under compression .or.tension. Such position is shownin Fig. 3 wherein the surface of thewateris indicated at 66. A lifting of the front end of the front skitd-causes the springs 65 to be under tension. Conversely, a loweringfrom normal of the front-end of the front ski causes the springs 65 tobe under compression. Thus, the springs yieldingly resist movement ofthe front ski from its normal, i. .e., its substantially horizontalposition.

The top of front ski 40 carries an upwardly-extending rudder 67; it isdisposed immediately forward of the U- shaped frame 62. The underside ofski 40 carries a downwardly-extending rudder 68. Both of these ruddersextend longitudinally of the ski. The lower rudder is positioned so thatthe axis of the axle 45 intercepts the rudder substantially forwardly ofmidway of the length thereof, whereby the fore part of the rudder offersfar less skiturning movement of face than the stabling force of therelative large trailing area of that part of the rudder which isrearwardly of the line aligned with the axis of axle 45. Of course, bothrudder functions while the skis are submerged, but the upper rudder 67is substantially ineffective when the ski is planing on the surface ofthe water.

At times the front ski is in such tilted position that the trough orwake immediately behind the tail of the ski is of such depth that thepropeller is robbed of water. Such action occurs while the ski isclimbing from its submerged position, that is, the front end is tiltedupwardly and the rear tilted downwardly; such action also occurs inrough water when the bowed forward end of the ski engages the uphillside of a wave. To prevent such robbing, I provide a notch 70 in thetail of the front ski (see Fig. 5). This notch permits water to readilyescape through the tail of the ski, at those times aforementioned. Yet,the tines 71 at the tail end provide planing surfaces of high valuewhere highly needed.

I find that better planing results are achieved by bowing the rear 38 ofthe rear ski 35 downwardly. It is believed that such improved result iseffected because the water level is somewhat higher at the front of therear ski than at the rear thereof because of the turbulence effected bythe propeller. By bowing the rear of the ski downwardly, it follows thelevel of the water more closely.

The boat herein shown is approximately seven feet in length, the frontski approximately five feet in length, and the rear approximately sixfeet in length. The boat as shown, carrying the motor, floats at a waterlevel approximately at the top of the ledges 33 and, when hearing anaverage weight man, floats at a water level at about two inches belowthe top of shelf 30.

The craft can be steered readily through the rudders 67 and 68 when therudders are submerged. When planing on the skis, the craft can besteered in the same manner as a motorcycle or bicycle is steered. Thatis, upon leaning of the driver to the right, the craft will turn to theright, and upon leaning to the left, the craft will turn to the left.The rudder 68 at such times functions as a keel on a boat. Too,relatively more acute turns can be made by manipulating the front ski bythe handle bar.

While the form of embodiment herein shown and described constitutes apreferred form, it is to be understood that other forms may be adoptedfalling within the scope of the claims that follow.

I claim:

1. A watercraft, comprising in combination, an elongated floatingstructure having starboard and port sides; ski means consisting of afront ski and a rear ski, each of said skis extending longitudinally of,below, and midway of the sides of the floating structure, said rear skibeing .attached to the floating structure; means on the floatingstructure for supporting the front ski about a verticallyextending axis;means cooperating with the last-mentioned means for moving the front skiabout said axis; a motor carried by the floating structure; andpropelling means extending below the ski means and driven by the motor.

2. A watercraft as defined in claim 1, characterized in that thepropelling means is disposed rearwardly of the rear of the front ski.

3. A watercraft as defined in claim 1, characterized in that thepropelling means is disposed forwardly of the front of the rear ski.

4. A watercraft as defined in claim 1, characterized in that thepropelling means is disposed rearwardly of the rear at]? the front skiand forwardly of the front of the rear 5. A watercraft as defined inclaim 1, characterized in that the front ski is also pivotally mounted,intermediate the front and rear thereof, about a substantiallyhorizontal axis extending transversely of the ski.

6. A watercraft as defined in claim 1, characterized in that the frontski is also pivotally mounted on the supporting means for said frontski, intermediate the front and rear of said ski, about a substantiallyhorizontal axis extending transversely of the front ski; and furthercharacterized in that the forward end of the front ski is tiltedupwardly from horizontal while the main body of the front ski liessubstantially in a horizontal plane; and means interposed between saidfront ski and said supporting means yieldingly resisting movement of thefront ski about said substantially horizontally-extending axis.

7. A watercraft as defined in claim 1, characterized in that the means,for supporting the front ski about a vertical axis, lies forwardly ofthe motor; and a driver's seat carried by said floating structure anddisposed rearwardly of the motor.

8. A watercraft as defined in claim 1, characterized in that the top ofthe front ski carries a rudder extending longitudinally thereof.

9. A watercraft as defined in claim 1, characterized in that the frontski carries a rudder extending longitudinally thereof, the axis, aboutwhich said ski is turned, intersecting the rudder substantiallyforwardly of the midway point thereof.

10. A watercraft as defined in claim 1, characterized in that thepropelling means is disposed directly rearwardly of the rear of thefront ski, and in that the rear of the front ski is notched to providespaced substantially horizontally and rearwardly-extending planingsurfaces. 11. A watercraft as defined in claim 1, characterized in thatthe rear of the rear ski bows downwardly.

12. A watercraft as defined in claim 1, characterized in that the rearski is stationary relative to the floating structure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,728,937 Kemp Sept. 24, 1929 1,835,618 Waller Dec. 8, 1931 1,846,602Lake Feb. 23, 1932 2,286,350 Drake June 16, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS 822,466France Dec. 30, 1931

